Chapter 67: Another Breakthrough

Luo Yan was not aware of the events that had taken place in Wooden Bucket Town and Lons Pompey City. For the past half month, he had been completely immersed in his own cultivation .

Half a month ago, the Lin Leather Shop and the Pia Chamber of Commerce had already completed their purchasing work. Both sides had achieved satisfactory results. It had to be admitted that the quality of the animal pelts hunted in Talim Village was indeed excellent. Both the shopkeepers brought by Lin Lian and Raffy were full of praise and deeply excited.

Of course, the ones who were even more excited were the residents of Talim Village. The unexpected appearance of this merchant caravan had brought them gold coins and joy they had never imagined. Since the hunting team was a shared organization of the entire village, even families without laborers who could go up the mountains to hunt received their share of the dividends. On average, every household earned thirty to forty Gold Plangs, and their family income had more than quintupled.

This was simply an unprecedented piece of good news. Director Luo Pei’s prestige among the villagers had instantly risen greatly, and his position had become unshakably stable. Especially after hearing that this merchant caravan would come once every six months from now on, the villagers’ respect reached its peak. Increasing their income fivefold in one go was something none of the previous directors had ever accomplished.

His father’s greatly increased prestige was naturally a good thing for Luo Yan. A journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single step. He believed that with this, no one in the village would try to challenge the director’s authority anymore—at least for a while, no one would dare to do so.

But after that, there was nothing much going on for a while. It was now approaching deep winter, the slack season for farming. The hunting team would not go into the mountains during winter either. Not only was it dangerous, but because the animals were hibernating, the prey wasn’t worth expecting either. As a result, everyone naturally had free time. This year’s income was good, and everyone was happily preparing to celebrate a prosperous new year.

At this time, the only ones still busy were the village administrative personnel like Luo Pei. After reporting the results of “attracting investment” to the town at the earliest opportunity, they began organizing various materials to prepare the year-end report for the town.

Of course, these matters had nothing to do with Luo Yan. During this period of leisure, he devoted himself even more seriously to his cultivation and had made some gratifying progress…

…

It was again the dead of night. The deep green glow on Luo Yan’s body appeared increasingly heavy and profound. Following the long, rhythmic breaths of his Meditation, it slowly pulsed and expanded, condensing and settling until it was so dense it seemed it could drip with moisture.

On Luo Yan’s body, one could clearly see seven milky-white channels forming a very beautiful three-dimensional pattern. Four of them appeared solid and bright, as if they had substance, while the other three were somewhat hazy and flickered in and out of visibility. Although they had their shapes, they lacked a sense of real, tangible existence.

—These channels were precisely the seven “Mana Vessels” that Luo Yan had successfully constructed when he first practiced the “Multicolored Earth” Meditation technique.

In magical cultivation, “Mana Vessels” not only allowed one to absorb Magic Elements more rapidly during Meditation, but also enabled a Wizard’s Mana to flow through the body more quickly and smoothly, accelerating spell release. To give a simple example: if the same first-tier spell required five seconds for a Wizard with only one “Mana Vessel” to cast, then if Luo Yan were to cast it now, the speed might improve by one to two seconds, perhaps even more.

In other words, among Wizards of the same tier, those who possessed a greater number of “Mana Vessels” not only cultivated faster but also had greater strength in actual combat… Of course, experience, wisdom, and even luck also played a role in real combat, but a Wizard who could cast spells faster was certainly at an advantage. That was, “of course,” only natural.

Of the seven “Mana Vessels” constructed last time, only four had fully stabilized. But today, it seemed that among the remaining three, one of them was glowing with a very gentle luster, clearly already on the verge of stabilization.

Luo Yan, sitting cross-legged on the bed, could feel waves of warmth surging through his body, flowing through the “Mana Vessels” again and again, continuously washing over the three vessels that had not yet fully stabilized, gradually making them tougher and more condensed.

After meditating for a while longer, suddenly the deep green glow on Luo Yan’s body burst forth violently, illuminating the entire room brightly. After lasting for a while, the light completely disappeared, seemingly sinking entirely into Luo Yan’s body. Luo Yan suddenly opened his eyes, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

[It worked! Finally succeeded! The fifth “Mana Vessel” has finally stabilized!]

Subconsciously focusing his gaze inward, Luo Yan indeed discovered that the “Mana Vessel” that had previously been very smooth was now exactly the same as the other four. It had clearly and truly stabilized, with no further worry of unexpected collapse.

At this, Luo Yan revealed a satisfied expression. At only five years old, having practiced Meditation for less than four months, he had already opened seven and stabilized five “Mana Vessels.” Such results, compared to any genius, were truly satisfying!

Subconsciously, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Without any warning, A Dai appeared again in the room, still wearing that dull, wooden expression. The darkness on his body seemed even deeper now, with some patterns faintly visible within it, giving him a vague, rock-like texture.

This was clearly a good thing. A first-tier skeleton was a “Bone Skeleton,” composed of pale white bone matter. But as it evolved, its body would become increasingly hard, and its color would gradually turn grayer and darker, eventually evolving into a second-tier “Stone Skeleton,” with substantive patterns on its body, evolving into a rock-like material.

This kind of “evolution” was not merely a change in appearance. In fact, as the skeleton evolved, not only did its bone sturdiness greatly increase and its defense undergo astonishing changes, but its strength would also increase by one to two times. Its speed, agility, and even intelligence would all receive corresponding improvements. It could be said to be a comprehensive, all-around major upgrade. Its combat power would naturally also be greatly enhanced. A single second-tier Stone Skeleton could easily take down over a dozen first-tier skeletons, and it was by no means inferior to warriors of other races at the same tier.

But facing this gratifying change in A Dai, Luo Yan didn’t seem happy at all. Instead, he shook his head helplessly. He found the situation before him utterly baffling and could find no clue at all.

Although his Mana reserves had further increased, for some unknown reason he could still only summon A Dai, this single skeleton. He completely lacked the imposing manner of ordinary Necromancers who could wave a hand and summon an army of thousands.

[A Necromancer who can’t summon a “Sea of Skeletons”—can he even be called a Necromancer?]